
./^/ 



//71 



.M7 


- \ 




-opy 1 


\ 


SPJ-iKCM 



Ion. SAIUEI 1. miER, 



N J';\A' Yf)KK 



HOlIiSl^; OF REFRESEN'I'ATJVKS. 



February 26, 187 



WASHINGTON 

1877. 






SPEECH OF 



HOISr. SA^MXJEL F. MILLER, 

OF NEW YORK, 

m THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

February 2G, 1877, 

On the bill (H. R. No. 748) to appl}' the proceeds of sales of public lands to the education 

of the people. 

Mr. miller. Mr. Speaker, however fortunate we may 
have been in settling the disputed claims to the Presidency, I 
trust it will not lead us into the presumption of tempting fortune 
further by allowing greater dangers to exist unchallenged until 
they threaten us with impending ruin. 

To-day I wish to call the attention of the House and of the 
country to evils that fill all thoughtful and patriotic minds with 
anxiety, and would indeed fill them with alarm if it were not 
possible by prompt and wise legislation to mitigate and remove 
them. I ask attention to the lack of facilities for even a com- 
mon-school education over a great portion of our country, to 
the alarming amount of illiteracy among our population, and es- 
pecially do I ask you to consider the fact that nearly 20 per cent, 
of the voters in this boasted land of freedom and intelligence 
cannot read the names of the candidates on the 1) allots they cast. 

Does this statement exaggerate the evil or overrate its ex- 
tent ? Let me appeal to the facts sliown by the last census. 
The (Commissioner of Education furnished in his re|)ori for 1872 
a table compiled and computed from the census of 1870 showing 
for each State and Territory the percentage of illiterates to total 
population over ten years of age. The footings of thc^ colunnis 
in this table show the result for the whole comiti-y. Listen to 
some of these figures. The percentage of illiterates to total pop- 
ulation of the whole country is 20.04 per cent, in the State of 
Delaware the illiterates are 24.95 percent, of ilic j)opulation ; 
in Maryland, 23.55 per cent.; in the District of (jolunibia. 28.59 
per cent. ; in Yirginia, 50.10 per cent. ; in North Carolina. 51.07 
per cent. ; in South Carolina, 57.64 per cent. ; in (Georgia, 
5G.06 per cent. ; in Mississippi, 53.91 per cent. Now, Mi'. 
Sjjeakej'. can anything be more alarming than ihosf^ figures, un- 



less it be the fact that since this exhibit was made the General 
Government has done little or nothing to aid the States struggling 
with this great question ? 

We have been taught by the fathers that the success and 
stability of free institutions rest upon the intelligence of the 
people. Can we contemplate with indifference the fact that one- 
fifth of the entire population of the country cannot even re d 
and write ; that in several of the great States of this Union more 
than one-half of the people have not taken the first steps of a 
common-school education. I know that the General Government 
can have no control of the school systems of the several States. 
The whole management of these institutions must remain with 
the local authorities, where the responsibility rests ; but the 
General Government can and should, as it has often done before 
aid the States in this work, and especially those States that have 
by the new condition of affairs had thrown upon them greater 
duties and responsibilities in educational matters than they can 
meet by their own unaided, straitened resources. To my mind, 
Mr. Speaker, the necessity for immediate action is most urgent. 
I am not committed to any particular plan, so that it is just to 
all sections and meets the necessities of the situation. 

I have carefully read the bill presented by the distinguished 
gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Walker,) and it seems to me to 
meet these requirements and I therefore give it my humble sup- 
port and trust before the close of the session I may have the 
opportunity to give it my vote. 

The bill reads as follows : 

A bill to apply the proceeds of sales o^ public lands to the education of 
the people. 

Be it enacted by the Senate, and Houae of Representatives oftJie United BtMes of Amer- 
ica in Congress assembled. That the net proceeds of the public lands are hereb}' forever 
consecrated and set apart tor the education of the people : Provided, That this act shall 
not have any effect to repeal, impair, or suspend any law now authorizing the pre-emption 
of public lands, or the entry of public lands for homesteads, nor as limiting in any manner 
the power of Congress to alter or extend the right of homestead upon such lands : And 
provided further, That nothing contained in this section shall be held to limit or abridge 
the power of Congress over the public domain, or interfere with granting bounty lands. 

Seo. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior shall cause an account to be taken at the 
close of each fiscal year, and ascertain the total receipts from the sales or other disposition 
of the public lands of the United States, including all fees received at the general and dis- 
trict land offices during such year, and the amount of expenditures during said year, in- 
curred or occasioned by the survey, sale, location, entryv or other disposition of such 
lands, including appropriations for the expenses of the said officers for said year, and 
shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount of the net cash proceeds from 
the sale, entry, location, or other disposition of such lands as aforesaid after deducting 
such expenses and expenditures. 

Seo. 3. That upon the receipt of such certificate the Secretary of the Treasury shall, 
on OT before the 31st day of July of each year, apportion to the several States and" Terri- 
tories and to the District of Columbia, upon the basis of population of the said States and 
Territories, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, the net proceeds of sales of 
public lands for the previous year : Provide, That after five years one-half of said net 
proceeds and after ten years the whole of the same shall be set apart as an educational 



5 

fund, which said fund sliall be invested in tlie bonds of the United States bearing a rate of 
interest not less than 4 per cent, per annum, both principal and interest payable in coin, 
the interest on such educational fund only to be appropriated as above provided : And 
provided further. That for the first ten years the distribution of said net proceeds and the 
interest on said fund to and among the several States, Territories, and District of Columbia 
shall be made accordmg to the numbers of their respective population, of ten years old 
and upward, who cannot read and write, as shown from time to time by the last proceed- 
ing published census of the United States. 

Skc. 4. That the first apportionment under this act shall be made on or before the 
3l8t day of July, 1876 ; and each of said States and Territories shall be entitled to receive 
its distributive share of eacli apportionment, to be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury 
to its treasurer or other officer authorized by its law to receive the same, whenever there- 
after it shall file with the Secretary of the Treasury a certified copy of the law of such 
State or Territory accepting the provisions of this act and undertaking that the funds pro- 
vided by the same, whenever paid over to it as above provided, shall be faithfully applied 
to the free education of all its children between the ages of six and sixteen years. The 
distributive share of the District of Columbia shall from time to time be paid over to the 
commission of said District created by act of Congress approved June 20, 1874, entitled 
" An act for the government of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes," or oth- 
er officer or officers provided by law, and shall be applied in the same manner as above 
provided for the States and Territories. 

Sec. 5. That to entitle any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia to the ben- 
efits of this act, it shall maintain for at least three naonths in each year a system of free 
public schools for all the children within its limits between the ages of six and sixteen, 
and shall, through the proper oflScer thereof, for the year ending the 30th day of June last 
preceding such apportionment, make full report of the number of public free schools, the 
number of teachers employed, the number of school-houses owned and the number of 
school -houses hired, the total number of children taught during the year, the actual daily 
attendance, and the actual number of months of the year schools have been maintained in 
each of the several school districts or divisions of said State, Territory, or District, and 
the amounts appropriated by the Legislature or otherwise received for the purpose of 
maintaining a system of free public schools. And if any State or Territory shall misap- 
ply, or allow to be misapplied or in any manner appropriated or used other than for the 
purposes herein required, the funds, or any part thereof, received under the provisions of 
this act. or shall fail to comply with the conditions herein prescribed, or to report, as 
herein provided, through its proper officers, the disposition thereof, such State or Terri- 
tor}'^ shall forfeit its right to any subsequent apportionment by virtue hereof, until the 
full amount so misapplied, lost, or misappropriated shall have been replaced by such State 
or Territory, and applied as herein required, and until such report shall have been made ; 
and all apportionments so forfeited and withheld shall be added to and become part of the 
principal of the educational fund hereby created. 

Skc. 6. That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to affect in any 
manner the existing laws and regulations in regard to the adjustment and payment to 
States of the percentage of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands within their 
respective limits, as provided in section 3tt89 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. 

Mr. Speaker, this is the bill, but let me concisely restate 
two or three of its main provisions. 

It will be observed that the net process of sales of public 
lands, after paying all expenses, are dedicated to the education 
of the people, but the rights of all pre-emptors under pre-emp- 
tion laws, and the Vights of all settlers under present and future 
homestead laws are carefully guarded and reserved, as well as 
the power of Congress over the public domain and its right to 
grant bounty lands. 

It is provided that after five years one-half of the net pro- 
ceeds and after ten ^ears the whole of the same shall be set 
apart as an educational fund to be invested in interest- bearing 
bonds of the United States, and the interest on these bonds is to 
be apportioned and distributed to the several States and Terri- 
tories according to the population of each between the ages of 



6 

five and twenty-one years as shown by the preceding census, on 
proof furnished by said State or Territory that it has maintained 
for at least three months in the preceding year a system of free 
public schools for all the children within its limits between the 
ages of six and sixteen years. 

For the first ten years the net proceeds and the interest on 
this educational fund are to be distributed to rhe several States 
and Territories, respectively, according to the number of their 
population over ten years of age that cannot read and write, as 
shown by the last preceding census of the United States. These 
are some of the leading features of this bill. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, in appropriating public lands or the pro- 
ceeds of their sale for educational purposes, this bill but follows 
a long line of precedents commencing before our Constitution was 
framed and illustrating every decade of our history since its adop- 
tion. I, myself, have counted over thirty separate general laws 
appropriating public lands for the promotion of education, passed 
since 1800, and there have been during this period many special 
acts for the same purpose. So we have' the authority and 
indorsement of our greatest and wisest statesmen to the constitu- 
tionality and wisdom of this bill, both as to the object to be at- 
tained and the property to be used 

There is one feature of this measure that may meet with 
some criticism and need some explanation. It may be objected 
that the plan of distribution for the first ten years is unequal and 
unfair, as it is to be made on the ratio of illiteracy, and not on 
the ratio of population. It is true that for the first ten yeai's 
those States where ignorance is the most dense, whei-e edu.„^atiou 
is most needed, will receive the largest proportion of assistance. 

To my mind this is no objection to the bill. The States and 
Territories form one country. One State caimot suffer unless all 
suffer. No danger can threaten one without menacing the wel- 
fare of all. The enlightenment and pi-osperity of the people of 
each State in a hundred ways promote the happiness and pros- 
per'ty of the inhabitants of every other State. These are trite 
and general trnths that every patriot admits and feels. But 
those States that have the greatest need of aid in educational 
work have especial claims that appeal to the generosity, nay, 
rather to the jus^i(*e of the whole nation. During the last fifteen 
years those States have undergone a complete revolution, not 
merely in their laws, but in their entii^) social organization. 

Never, I believe, in all history did a State survive so great 
changes, made in so short a time, as those that have occurred in 
the Southern States of this Union.' Slavery, while it existed, 
not only made the education of the colored race impossible, but 



it prevented the establishment of anything Uke a common-school 
system for the education of the children of the poor whites out- 
side of the large towns. The children of the masters were 
educated by private teachers and in higher institutions. The 
war came and consumed and swept away the accumulated for- 
tunes of a century. It broke up the family and higher schools. 
[t abolished slavery and made the slave a freeman. Reconstruc- 
tion came, and the freedman was clothed with full citizenship 
and invested with the responsibilities of the ballot. It was under 
such circumstances that those States were called upon to provide 
a C(niimon-school system for their people. JSTever was there 
greater need, and seldom if ever was there more discouragement. 
But in spite of all difficulties, and in spite of much opposition, 
the work has been honestly attempted in all the States, and with 
full as much success as could be expected under the circumstan- 
ces, with their crippled resources. And now, sir, they lay before 
us this bill and ask our assistance. I am ready to meet it. 

I freely acknowledge my responsibility as a citizen and a 
voter in supporting those two great measures that now increase 
the importance and the burdens of education in those States. 
We abolished slavery to save the Union. None now mourn 
its loss; "none so poor to do it reverence." We placed the 
ballot in the hands of the freedmen, not through malice, toward 
our former enemies, but to save free institutions on this conti- 
nent. I speak for the northern voter and private citizen, for I 
was one, and I believe I knew their sentiments. And perhaps it 
is well that souiliern Representatives should know the motives 
that actuated plain Northern voters in that crisis. There seemed 
to us to be but two ways of dealing with the great problems of 
reconstruction so as to secure the guarantees that safety de- 
manded : first, to remand the conquered States to the territorial 
condition indefinitely, to be governed by the central government. 
But this would destroy free republican institutions in half of the 
States and endanger. them in all. Besides, we did not want any 
dissatisfied Hungary or down-trodden Poland or subjugated Ire- 
land to be a perpetual source of weakness to the nation. We 
])refe]"red the other alternative. By removing the disabilities of 
one race and granting the full rights of citizenship to the other, 
with amnesty joined with suffrage, we thought to make it possi- 
ble to rebuild od the basis of equal rights free and prosperous 
States. I repeat that I admit the responsibility of myself and 
my constituents for these measures. I still believe they will lead 
to happy results. I know that a great work remains to be done 
in the way of education for both races, more than the States un- 
aided can acconiplisli. I recognize our obligafion to aid in this 



work. I am ready to meet that obligation now by voting for 
this bill. 

Mr. Speaker, 1 wish now to call the attention of the House 
to some circumstances that make this a most auspicious time for 
granting this assistance ; more favorable, indeed, than any future 
time can possibly be. A common school system has been organ- 
ized in each of the reconstructed States. Its means are very 
limited in m.any, and inadequate in all. It should not be suffered 
to die of inanition. Its enemies should not have the opportunity 
to ridicule its feebleness or to belittle its importance. Again, 
sir, the newly invested citizens have shown a great desire for the 
education of their children, and the children an avidity for learn- 
ing. This laudable ambition should not be allowed to change 
to indifference from want of opportunities, as quite frequently 
happens with ignorant people everywhere. 

But further, Mr. Speaker, this is a most auspicious time to 
urge forward the cause of common-school education in these 
States, because their best men, without regard to party, novv 
acknowledge its importance, and very many give it their encour- 
agement and support. We see this in the reports of State 
superintendents, messages of governors, and proceedings of Leg- 
islatures. 

I was very much gratified the other day in reading in the 
Record some philosophical and statesman-like remarks in a speech 
of the distinguished gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Watterson.) 
Of course I do not refer to that part of the speec^h which was for 
a party, (for about that we should not agree,) but to that part 
that was for the country. I wish to quote a tew sentences from 
that speech that illustrate the point to which I am now speaking. 
In describing the condition of the enfranchised colored citizens 
in his own State, inider wise State management, he says : 

Thus by easy stages and bj- the consent of society tlie negro presentlj^ found him- 
self vested with such legal rights' as the States have exclusive power to give ; he was es- 
tablished .in the rights which the General Government had given him ; he was made secure 
in his home, and he is to-day surpassed by no laboring man in any part of the world in the 
advantages he enjr)ys for getting on in life. He is sought by all parties — a very popular 
person indeed with candidates for office. In the city where I live his churches and 
schools are numerous, well ordered, and well attended. He has no conflicts witli the 
whites. In a word, he is a freeman, a citizen, and a voter. 

I have made this quotation not because it is an indorsement 
of the fifteenth amendment, although it is very satisfactory in 
that respect, but 1 have made it to show that many of the lead- 
iTig men of the South not only look with approbation upon the 
prosperity and education of the colored race, but rejoice in that 
result. ' Doubtless this class of men are more numerous in the 
border States than in the States farther south. But I think this 
sentiment is advancing, and will soon extend over the entire 



country. I trust this bill will strengthen it, for only with support 
of the best citizens of the States can the success of the common- 
school system be speedy and satisfactory. I would do nothing to 
lessen their supervision, or their responsibility, or their honor in 
this work, and 1 support this feature of the bill that the General 
Grovernment may aid their people in carrying a necessary burden 
that they might feel was too heavy for them to bear in their 
present crippled condition. 

Mr. Speaker, there will probably be found, as there always 
has been, a few men in every community who will oppose any 
general system for the education of the people ; a few aristocrats 
who prefer to hold their position by a kind of divine right, inde- 
pendent of the opinions and voices of the people who surround 
them. Then there may be ^ few indolent young men, joined 
with certain fellows of the baser sort, who do not want to be put 
to the trouble of further mental exertion, and dislike to see the 
gap closed up that separates them from those who started life 
with less advantages. These join in Hamlet's complaint, that 
" the toe of the peasant comes too near the heels of the courtier ; 
he galls his kibe." Now, sir, the only answer to all this in a free 
democratic country is, move on or get out of the way. No man 
has the moral right to obstruct the path of progress to those be- 
low him to suit his indolence, his convenience, or his selfishness. 
In a free country progress is the law, and whoever cannot keep 
step in the march must fall out of the ranks and go to the rear. 
But such opposers of a general system of education may for a 
moment embarrass, but cannot prevent its success when once it 
secures the approval and support of the best citizens in the state 
and community. 

Mr. Speaker, I believe the fruits of this bill will be good, 
and only good. The education of the laboring classes, whoever 
they may be, will not only increase the happiness of indi\'iduals 
and families, but will promote the material prosperity of the 
State. The education of the laborer doubles the value of his 
labor, both to himself and the country. I have heard a good 
deal since 1 have been here about our duty to aid in developing 
the resources of the South — to restore and build up its waste 
places ; but, sir, I know of no waste so broad as this waste of 
ignorance, and no place where a little a,ssistance would do so 
great and permanent a good. Other plans and projects can wait 
until the nation is in a more prosperous condition, but this brooks 
no delay. Other interests, when in order, can be heard on their 
merits, but until a general common-school system is in success- 
ful operation in each of the States this must be the question of 
paramount importance, the question of the highest privilege, 
that must take precedence of all others. 



10 

Again, sir, the benefits of a common-scliool system will not 
be deferred to another generation, as many suppose. The edu- 
cation of the children will be a source of elevation and enlight- 
enment to the parents. No father, however ignorant, can feel 
an interest and pride in the education of his children and take a 
part in the support of their school without being made a better 
man and a better citizen. The poorest cabin in the land will be 
]nade a better home by the presence of the humblest scholar and 
the most elementary book. Besides, in hundreds of cases the 
rule of nature will be reversed, and the child will become the 
teacher of the parents. And in all cases the desire for educa- 
tion, even for others — the discussion of educational questions, 
the effort to build the school-house and support the local school 
— all tend to improve the character of the hiunblest citizen, to 
give him more self-respect and respectability, and to develop in 
him some of the higher and better qualities of human nature. 

I have been told by some of my southern friends that the 
freedmen are vicious, and that they are especially deficient in a 
correct appreciation of the rights of property. I have no doubt 
that in many cases this is true. Slavery was indeed a very poor 
school in which to learn the duties of freedom, and the very 
worst school in the world in which to get any true conception of 
the rights of property. But the remedy for this is not to re- 
ipand them to slavery or to leave them in ignorance, but to give 
them education. It is always cheaper for the state to educate 
the child than to punish the criminal or support the pauper. 
And while it is true that education will not wholly prevent 
crime and pauperism, it has always been found true in all states 
that the percentage of illiteracy among the inmates of prisons 
and almshouses is ten times greater than in the population at 
large. Now, wliile it is the duty of the State to punish the vio- 
lators of its laws, it may well be thought a dut}'^ to give its sub- 
jects opportunities for an education sufficient at least to enable 
them to rea(i the laws they are compelled to obey. There was 
a curious old puritanic law of ol(? colonial Connecticut which 
relieved the child from the penalty of death for striking a parent 
if it appeared on the trial that the parent had totally neglected 
tlie education of tlie child. The lesson suggested may be as ap- 
plienlile to states as to parents. 

Mr, Spetiker, however much in our soi'e need we may have 
felt indebted to the Peabody fund and otiier private gifts, yet 
the education of a whole people is too great a work, both in its 
importance and in the resources required, to be met by the 
donations of private individuals, however generous. A system 
of elementary education requires a steady, uniform support, not 



u 

dependent upon the caprice of fashion or the fluctuating pros- 
perity of business, or any of those uncertainties that might make 
the donations of the benevolent fall off when most needed. Pat- 
riotic philanthrophy has indeed a noble field for the use of wealth 
in the domain of education, but it is in supplementing the work 
of the state by founding higher schools and colleges and institu- 
tions for special training. Its work begins where that of the 
state ends. The state furnishes that education that is necessary 
for all in the common affairs of life, while wealthy philanthrophy 
may be trusted to furnish that higher culture that is necessary 
for special duties. As the country increases in prosperity we 
may expect to see more and more of these acts of benificence 
that dignify the pursuit of wealth for noble ends, and perpetuate 
through after years the good . deeds as well as the name of the 
giver. This, indeed, is noble benevolence, that, like mercy, is 
twice blessed — " It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." 
This bill does not limit or trespass upon its domain, but it in- 
creases the number to appreciate and admire its deeds. 

Mr. Speaker, no institution of our country has received 
greater credit and honor from statesmen and publicists of foreign 
lands than the free-school system of the several States. This 
bill will aid to make it still more an American institution by ex- 
tending its blessings to every hamlet and settlement of the whole 
country. It will give our people another object of common in- 
terest and common pride. It will make our people more 
homogeneous — having a common education, a common culture, 
and a common literature. May we not expect that this aid will 
tend to bind States to the General Grovernment, not by force, 
but by gratitude, and make all sections and all races more de- 
voted to the great Republic and to its free institutions, that are 
the source and guarantee of all our civil blessings. I hail and 
support this bill as a harbinger of peace and good will between 
states and between races. And with peace assured, with a 
hearty union of all for the good of all, there is no height of pros- 
perity for our people or of glory for our country that we may 
not anticipate and attain. But, sir, in the supremest hour of 
our triumph there will be no institution to which we can look 
back with more pride and gratitude as a chief means of our suc- 
cess than to this which we will to-day foster and encourage by 
the passage of this bill. Gi-lorious, thrice glorious country, when 
the rights of freeman are secured to all thy pedple and the op- 
portunities for education to all thy children ; for " wisdom and 
knowledge shall be the stability of thy tiines." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

llll!llllll'lllllliilll'iiil'lii:ii':vi 



021 324 671 9 



